Fascinating true story!

The made for TV movie "Bonanno: A Godfather's Story" from 1999 tells
the fascinating story of true life Italian-American Mafia boss Giuseppe
"Joseph" Bonanno, perhaps more known as "Joe Bananas". We get to follow
Bonanno through his very long life, born in 1905 he was still alive
when the TV movie was made (he died in 2002). The TV movie is listed on
the IMDb as 170 minutes long, but the version I saw on Hallmark
Television was divided in four episodes and about 360 minutes long. The
first two episodes gives a realistic and insightful description of the
conditions of many Italian-Americans in New York during the first
decades of the 20th century, the last two episodes concentrates instead
on the intrigues and the power struggle in the US Mafia from WWII until
the late 1960s. It is very well done and entertaining throughout, even
though it is made in an almost semi documentary fashion. By following
Bonanno's fascinating life and crime career we also get to meet other
interesting protagonists of the US Mafia such as Salvatore Maranzano,
Joe "the Boss" Masseria, Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Frank Costello, Vito
Genovese, Carlo Gambino, Joe Profaci, Buffalo's Stefano Maggadino,
Chicago's Al Capone and Sam Giancana, New Orlean's Carlos Marcello and
Tampa's Santo Trafficante Jr. We also get to learn more about the mob's
support of Politicians such as Franklin D Roosevelt, John F Kennedy and
NYC mayor Robert F Wagner. The actors are all very good, particularly
Tony Nardi who plays Bonanno for most of the third and fourth part.
Edward James Olmos is also quite good as Don Maranzano. You notice that
a great part of the cast is Canadians of Italian origin, since their
Italian pronunciation is superior to most US actors of Italian origin.
Among the negative parts of the TV movie is the glorification of the
protagonist, which is however common to most films dealing with the US
Mafia. Here is it even more evident, perhaps because the movie is
produced by Bonanno's son Bill. It is for example heavily underlined
that Bonanno is an anti-fascist, that he supports the US Democrats by
ideological reasons, that he opposes Cuba's Batista and that he
reflects thoroughly before ordering any murders. We must however
remember that he committed a lot of criminal acts and like most
mobsters was against Mussolini not because of democratic beliefs, but
because the Fascists clamped down on crime. Neither has it been proved
that the Mafia, as suggested in the movie, was involved in the murders
of journalist Carlo Tresca in 1943 and JFK in 1963. You shouldn't
compare this TV movie with Coppola's "The Godfather" which is
fictional, but partly based on the true events described in Bonanno's
story. Mostly however the TV movie is a great deal more faithful to
real events than similar products and it is greatly recommended to
anyone interested in the history of New York's Italian-American Mafia.
As a mini series made for Television I would give it an "above average"
rating.

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6 out of 6 people found the following review useful:

Great Script + Great Production = Great Movie.

You could say I'm biased a) because my grandparents were Sicilian and
b) because I love the genre. I also have a screenplay about my
grandparents' story, and I see sections my own script magnificently
produced in many scenes of this movie.

Some comments are negative because they claim the movie "glorifies"
criminals. Personally, I don't agree with that view. In any event,
regardless of the value judgments one might pass, this movie is full of
merit for many reasons.

It is a wonderful time piece, taking us from Sicily of the early 1900s
to the US of the 1990s. The sets are wonderful, the wardrobe
outstanding. And the actors are excellent, except for the man playing
Joe Masseria, who I think overacted a bit. Although, perhaps that's
what Masseria was like.

The script, the critical element that truly makes (or breaks) a film,
IMO is also very good. In addition to telling the story it has to tell,
it includes a bonus. And that is small tidbits of "universal wisdom,"
if you will.

- The importance of one's word. The movie evokes a time when that meant
a great deal, in contrast to current times.

- The importance of never forgetting those who have lent you a hand in
the past, and expressing gratitude for it by returning the favor when
the opportunity arises.

- Maxims such as "When it's your life that's on the line, you can only
trust yourself".

Perhaps a 10 is a tad too generous, but I'd give it no less than a 9.

The reason it gets a 10 is as kudos for having produced a great script.
Great scripts of all genres need to be produced, and not the garbage
that keeps getting cranked out. The saying goes, "you can have a bad
movie with a good script, but you can't have a good movie with a bad
script." In this case, we have a great script and great production,
which equals a great movie.

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4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:

The best of its kind since Godfather 2.

Very well done acting and directing. This is a cross between "The Last Don"
and " Godfather 2".One large plus for this production is that it is claimed
to be a true story of Joseph Bonanno. With a better music score to create
mood, it could have been a rival for both Godfather movies.

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5 out of 8 people found the following review useful:

Ugh--fudgetaboutit!!

The true life story of an American mobster. If you're a fan of "The
Godfather," then this film might be worth watching as it's alleged that
Mario Puzo borrowed from Joseph Bonanno's life story. You can see many
similarities from "being chased out of Sicily," to "the extravagant
wedding," to "the confrontation of the local made man who's collecting with
the up-and-coming godfather," etc. Other than that...fudgetaboutit! Told
through the cliché flashback, Martin Landau's voice-over narration is
excruciating. Director Michel Poulette should have taken notes on how
Coppola handled flash-backs in "GF2." Not that the story is all bad--just
long! It reads more like a documentary. Then what about this whole issue
that these men are "bound by honor," yet the Bonanno's sell out to create
this Hollywood tale? Peter Bonanno said he wanted Hollywood to show the
truth instead of a fictionalized Mafia movie. Excuse me? What about
"Casino?" or "Goodfellas?" or "Gotti?" or...you get the idea. Looks to me
like these ex-Mafia gents aren't greasing the politicians anymore, but
instead Hollywood producers to make themselves appear like American icons.
Fud-get-about-it!!

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2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:

Who is interested in mafia should see this movie !

This movie have 4 parts and every is around 170 minutes long. Its based
on true story of life of Joe Bonanno and it is telling all how he did
see. So in some events we can notice that we heard different about it.
Movie make you tied up for chair till the end, i think it is possible
to watch all 4 in a row, and not notice i watched 2 in a row and 2 next
day in a row. Acting in movie is OK in some scenes awesome but in
general could be bather, but this movie is not about acting or special
effects and glamor, this one show real thing and story is key to this
movie. So the one who look for same spectacular Rambo/matrix/titanic
movie you can skip this one. Good thing in movie is that follow the
main story so you will not have long and boring love scenes or any
different interrupt with something not important to crime business of
Bonanno.

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1 out of 2 people found the following review useful:

" Look passed the blue eyes and deep into the Scillian Heart "

So many people have seen Mario Puzo's the 'Godfather' and Terence
Young's 'The Valachi Papers ' that the famous families of all the
gangland characters of the 1920s' and 30's are very familiar household
names to audiences everywhere. Thus this serious film directed by
Michel Poulette, called " Bonanno: A Godfather's story " should come as
no surprise to anyone watching the movie. The story is a
multi-generational tale as recalled by Joseph and William Bonanno. They
were the Father (Martin Landau and Costas Mandylor) and son heads of
the Bonanno crime family in New York. Beginning with his birth in
Italy, emigrating to America and later ruling as one of the Five
Families in New York, Joseph relates his life as part of the Rise and
Fall of the Cosa Nostra. Audiences are towed along on a historical ride
as the two relate their ties with all the well known bosses, and key
family heads like Charlie 'Lucky' Luciano, Joe Masseria, Don Ciccio Joe
Profaci, Albert Anastasia and Joe Valachi. Other notable figures also
surprise audiences like Joe Sr., John and Robert Kennedy. Through four
hours of vivid narration, we see how a single life touched so many
during the heyday of the gangster, adding key elements to historical
assassinations and murders. It's a great film, albeit, a tad long,
nevertheless, Martin Landau is a superb choice for the centerpiece of
this Classic movie. ****

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0 out of 1 people found the following review useful:

Slow, but good.

I found parts of this movie rather slow, especially the first part; the
second part seemed to go a lot faster, but it's not totally clear to me as
to why one part was faster than the other. I somehow managed to find it
enjoyable. The acting was good, the writing was good (yet vulgar). There
was also another good side to it: it was easier to understand than say,
the
Godfather movies. You knew who was on whose side, etc. All in all, the
movie wasn't half-bad.

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0 out of 2 people found the following review useful:

GREAT!!!

its about joseph bonanno a smart sicilian boy who escapes the sicilian army
and comes to america for a new life but ends up being a bum in america
until he becomes a made man and eventually the don. its a great movie to
buy
it, its worth the money

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1 out of 4 people found the following review useful:

Solid entertainment that needed less cheap thrills and more narrative polish.

Hollywood has turned the Mafia in to a production line of output
ranging from the banal to the excellent and despite some good acting
and a reasonable script (much of which is - for a change - true!) this
"home entertainment" effort has to fall slap bang in the middle.

The script is not only obvious (all of the checklist boxes end up being
ticked), but spends a lot of time trying to create a pastiche of the
best of other people's work. The Godfather being the most obvious, but
there are other references too. I won't bother naming them.
Nevertheless it is a good taste borrower! The producer seems to set a
quota for gunshots and murder (one at least every twenty minutes?) and
the ending is weak and "so what?" I am told there are various versions
of this production so that maybe that is just the version I have seen.

Gangsters don't make money they take money. Usually by fear. Some seem
more in to the murder and mayhem side of the business than making
money. They were the ones that were the first to go (in real life and
here). "You can't make money with a gun in your hand" says Charlie
'Lucky' Luciano at one stage. One of the smarter gangsters, although
all things are relative. He was a skilled white slave trader and a drug
dealer before being bundled home to Italy.

The old school "moustached Pete's" were picked off by the new bloods
who wanted the power and the money for themselves and to break free of
the straight jacket of Italian/Sicilian power (rarely doing business
outside themselves). The young Turk knew they needed to be allied with
other groups (most notably "the Jews" who knew how to launder money)
and this is at least referenced and acknowledged. What isn't made so
clear is that most immigrant groups had their own Mafia's - but most of
them made their money and went legit. And why not? Who wants to die in
jail?

Joseph Bonanno was a ruthless man prepared to kill if needs be , but
not an unfair or stupid one. His story was tragic in that he could have
made money in the over ground world and he showed a special skill in
avoiding getting killed. With a little bit of luck attached, naturally.

Despite the range of respectable names and three actors in the title
role (Bruce Ramsay, Martin Landau and Tony Nardi) there isn't the
charisma or the talent to bring us in and feel anything. We are -
merely - passive observers in a life we are glad not to have lead. The
people shown here were born in to a cruel world but their only mark was
to make it crueler.

If you can't get enough of the gangster genre that will be better than
watching Godfather 1 & 2 for the tenth time and it is even better -- as
basic entertainment -- than the horrible misfire that was Godfather 3.

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1 out of 5 people found the following review useful:

There are no Sicilians named Joe

Propaganda from the Mafia, in this sense it might be viewed as a dark
comedy. It gets countless details wrong, especially every scene where
the Sicilians are drinking coffee, incorrectly. One can forgive the
mixed cast, it is after all, an acting exercise. However, that this
gangster, this author could present such lies, denial, and drama as a
substitute for truth is in fact a moral crime, an extension of the
guilty mind making dirty lies. Who can even believe this story? Edward
Almos is always a pleasure to watch, so there is that. Otherwise, to
whatever extent this is in fact a "true" story, it is pathetic. And, I
live in Sicily. Sicily does not even have a "j" in their alphabet. I
have never, and you never will meet a Sicilian named Joe. The facts,
props, names, history and reality have been changed, I would assume, to
protect the otherwise empty nonsense of this film.